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Equities slipped back into the red today after a two-day winning run as the Sensex declined over 80 points and the Nifty cracked below 9,600, with investors turning cautious after the Federal Reserve’s rate hike.
The BSE 30—share Sensex, after opening higher, touched a high of 31,229.44, but slipped to end lower by 80.18 points, or 0.26 per cent, at 31,075.73.
The index had risen 60.21 points in the last two sessions.
The NSE Nifty after shuttling between 9,621.40 and 9,560.80 settled at 9,578.05, down 40.10 points, or 0.42 per cent.
Caution prevailed after the US Fed raised its key interest rate by 25 basis points and announced plans to start paring its bond holdings, and on an overnight slump in crude prices.
Besides, the ongoing US political turmoil also had a rub—off effect on the sentiment.
Among BSE sectoral indices, realty index gained 2.16 per cent, followed by healthcare 0.86 per cent, and power 0.05 per cent. Oil & gas fell the most, by 1.15 per cent, IT 0.92 per cent, TECK 0.92 per cent, capital goods 0.68 per cent and banking 0.41 per cent.
Top five Sensex gainers were Reliance (+2.11%), Cipla (+1.74%), Wipro (+1.54%), Dr Reddy's (+1.27%) and Sun Pharma (+1.08%), while the major losers were TCS (-2.42%), L&T (-1.4%), ONGC (-1.18%), M&M (-1.16%), Coal India (-1.13%) and GAIL (-1.10%).
Asian markets were spooked after The Washington Pos t reported US President Donald Trump is being investigated by special counsel Robert Mueller for possible obstruction of justice, citing unidentified officials.
Gold edged up from a near three-week low as worries of political instability in the US saw money moving into the safe haven.
The Federal Reserve had raised interest rates as expected on Wednesday and gave a first clear outline on its plan to reduce its $4.2-trillion portfolio of bonds.
The global risk factors come at a time when Indian markets are running short of triggers after a recent rally. Since hitting a record high of 9,709.30 points on June 6, the broader NSE index has fallen around 1 per cent.
“Indian markets are at their peak and some consolidation is happening on the banking and financial stocks,” Siddhartha Khemka, head of research at Centrum Wealth, said.
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